with Robert Bicknell
OK, first of all, I am not “PC”. Never have been, never will be. If you’re easily offended, then please go back to watching videos of unicorns and butterflies while searching the internet for things to be offended by.
Now then…
Remember when “boys will be boys” was a common phrase? It was uttered, usually by either adults or females, whenever a male did something that the other simply couldn’t understand, like when a couple of friends start off playing football and it turns into a rugby scrum, followed by a boxing match? This is almost always followed by male laughter and women looking puzzled.
Boys/Men have always looked at things differently than females, which explains why we always end up in arguments where the female is upset and the male has absolutely no idea why.
However, that was BEFORE the “PC” (Politically Correct) crowd took over and decided that anything which could possibly offend anyone, anywhere at any time, should be banned.
So, when Ian Poulter from the European Tour, made a few disparaging remarks about Sir Nick Faldo and Tom Watson’s reigns as Ryder Cup captains in his new book, the president of the PGA of America, Ted Bishop, tweeted his defence of their records.
Unfortunately, he used a few terms which caused the PC Police to scream.
In a nutshell, Ted Bishop was ousted as president of the PGA of America because he said what was normal for someone of HIS generation, but does not fly with the PC overkill today.
Bishop’s tweet: “Faldo’s record stands by itself. Six majors and all-time RC points. Yours vs His? Lil girl.”
He followed that up with a Facebook post: “Really? Sounds like a little school girl squealing during recess. C’MON MAN!”
In what has become America’s default knee-jerk reaction to most every situation, The PGA of America’s board of directors voted to remove Bishop from office.
They also over-reacted earlier with the Ryder Cup loss and assigned a “Task Force” to understand why we lost. Simple, we got outplayed. D-uh.
“To be honest with you, there was no hesitation when I typed ‘Lil Girl’ “, Bishop was quoted as saying, “Because I kind of grew up in a generation where, when my dad hit ground balls to me in the backyard, if I pulled my head up, he told me I was fielding like a girl.”
No explanation necessary. Most of us older guys had fathers who did that… and, no, it didn’t traumatize us for life. But it did make us try harder, which was the point. Questioning a guy’s manhood is a big deal to us.
Did Bishop deserve to lose his job over it?
Honestly, I don’t think so. But, he should spoken to Poulter in person, not in a public forum. That was dumb.
So we can forgive the PGA for thinking of how much money it could lose in potential sponsors if there was a backlash. Besides, Bishop was leaving at the end of November anyway.
Unfortunately, any good that Bishop did during his tenure as president, and there was a lot of it directed at women’s golf, will be most likely erased or at least overshadowed by a few moments where he might have been better off keeping his mouth shut.
I’m here to defend or bury Bishop, he did a great job of that himself, but when the PC police control the media and public opinion, you risk your career simply by antagonizing the beast.
In old days, you self-censured or risked getting a punch in the mouth. Today, they line up lawyers or threaten boycotts because throwing a punch would be too barbaric for the unicorn crowd.
I don’t see where some people’s opinions should be other people’s problems. Hey, if I don’t like something on TV, I don’t watch it. Simple enough… It’s called “tolerance”.
Anytime you try to regulate people, there is a chance of going overboard. This is what is happening today. But this is the way things are now and this is what the world is coming to, and sooner or later it will be verboten to say anything about anything without offending someone.
Whoops, too late.
Đăng ký: VietNam News